There will be a new phrase added to Baja racing's vocabulary. "Virtual Check Point" or VCP for short. These will be a series of unmanned waypoints that you must race through in order to be in course compliance. These will be strategically placed to discourage course deviations in sensitive areas. Miss a VCP and you will receive a penalty. It will be important to pay attention to the maps and course notes to know where these are during pre-running. Basically connect the dots and you are good to go.

-Andy

11/04/09 SCORE just posted the files on their web site.
http://score-interna..._1000/2009.aspx

Any idea of when this new map is supposed to be out with sensitive areas marked?

Chain Guide said:

Andy, after the 500 and all the penalties, i'm pretty sure this statement is "in-accurate" .

I'm thinking we should stay on the course, all the time, or risk penalties.
Ron

surfnride said:

Actually I think you will be pleasently suprised to see that there should be a few areas labeled "multiple legal lines from RMXXX to RMXXX". This would give us the best of both worlds. The VCPs should force everyone to race the same course, still have a bit of freedom in some areas and really know what's important to SCORE and the future of Baja.

J Caster said:

I beleive by Monday

Oh good, I could use a pleasant surprise this week.

I'm guessing --

bottom of the summit( north end of laguna salada) --- to Borrego

Entrance of Matomi --- to somewhere just south of San Felipe

surfnride said:

ding ding ding ding we have a winner! :banana::cheers:

Expect the VCPs to have a 10 minute penalty value. Miss one and get penalized 10 minutes. Miss 2 = 20 min. and so on. Sensitive areas will have several VCPs in a row, like a string of pearls, to levy a more severe penalty and to visually show the degree of sensitivity. For instance, if you took the Cemetery road in Uruapan, you would miss 6 VCPs and receive a 60 min penalty. If you go through the lower field in San Vicente, you would miss 9 and that would pretty much ruin your day.

These VCP's sound very much like the FastTrak systems... technology that seems to be pretty fool proof. We shall see...

Any idea who will determine where VCPs are located? Or who will determine fair or cheat lines?
I would expect (except that we're speaking of score) the person(s) determining these areas to be a long-time Baja racer(s), having competed many times in SF events as well as Ens. based events, at a competitive level (meaning racers who look for race lines, not just ride alongs).
Big difference with route knowledge and race understanding between racers who've done it a long time and newer racers. And of course if an old vet suggest a fair line and score doesn't like it's simple for them to nix the line.

BajaBoundMoto said:

Tim, you are without a doubt an experienced veteran in Baja and probably the most seasoned expert on finding new lines out there. (2nd in 07! good job BTW) I am sure that anyone willing to spend many hours and work days driving back and forth on his own time to SCORE headquarters in Calabasas, hashing out fair ways of scoring racers with Sal and Paul in 4 hour boardroom meetings, like Andy has volunteered to do on behalf of the racers, would be just as valuable in these decisions as well. If you want just PM Andy and set up about 30+ hours of volunteer time with him. I'm sure he will be glad to share the burden of all of his hard work with other experienced racers. There might be some 3 to 4 hour conference calls during the week as well if you can make time for them. Your input would be especially useful to SCORE in order to determine where the racers shouldn't go.

Chain Guide said:

I've often wondered why they don't just do this? The technology is there with the GPS devices. I think of it as MX Unleashed or Air Plane racing where you have to go thru the cones... ...anything in between is fair game! :thumbsup:

NewMexican said:

Agreed!, I think that it matches the best of both mentalities. The old school "Any way you can get there", with new school "Technology". Now I don't think it means straying waaay off the course by any means but if there are multiple lines at least the racer can relax a little and focus on the race with the VCP's in mind. They will obviously put more VCP's in critical areas like San Vincente and all the racers will have this information supplied in a format they can understand.
Most racers embrace their own technology to win. I have embraced GPS for years and it has helped tremendously in races with "Distance to Next" for the pits and "Speed" for the highway sections. All of this VCP information can be input into a gps in the form of a rout waypoint and can be followed easily wile prerunning.

CPR FAB said:

Exactly! ...and the other point I was trying to make, but didn't type (I did in my own little mind though!)!!! :lol:

Was that you could have say 20 VCP's all 'unmanned'! You still can have those old school 'stub can' style or 'visual' check points! Oh wait, we don't use 'stub' cans anymore!

...but think of your Tracker as your modern day Stub can!?:thumbsup:

You didn't ever want to lose one of those either right?!

CPR FAB said:

Is this really that complex a problem? 4 hour boardroom meetings? 4 hour conference calls? Any call that takes more than one hour is not a call worth having.

Chain Guide said:

I just raced a RECORD race in San Vicente this October and the LOW line through the sensitive area was marked as the open race course??? They had the HI line and the LOW line marked as an either or. Maybe I am still a little bitter about getting penalized in that section at the 500. My point is: I hope SCORE is up front with were the VCPs will be and get this whole course deviation thing sorted out fairly and quickly this time. I just think it sucks to be a guinea pig in an evolving process that cost me a lot of money to be a part of.

karmataburn said:

check the course notes..
eg:

Quote

and the GPS map.. it's out and shows alternate lines as well..

it would seem, 139.31, 153.80, 159.72, 161.64, 178.22, would be the Virtual Check points for this particular area

nljustin said:

I have been partially involved in this from the beginning and privy to all that is going on. In answer to your question, yes it is... judging by how much mileage this has gotten on the chat boards I think that alone is a testament to the fact.

If Sal was willing to make huge strides and implement big changes from a brief phone call from a stranger, well, now THAT would be questionable.

To come up with a system that isn't riddled with holes is a complex task and I applaud Andy for taking that on. He has worked hard on behalf of the racers to help SCORE come up with a solid system that is comprehendible and have it implemented before the biggest race of the year becomes another disaster.

I assure you that this is very complex and if I could would invite you to view the numerous spreadsheets, notebooks, maps and documents that it took to make this happen at great personal cost. It's a good thing.

amazing ricardo said:

Your right on the money. From what I have seen they will be VERY clear and there may be a GOOGLE Earth file that is downloadable and viewable as well with waypoints for the VCP's that can be easily identified along with the notes.

CPR FAB said:

This post you made confused me. I was wondering why (it seems) you took what I said so personally.

CPR FAB said:

This explains it.

I was in no way ragging you at all. I had no idea you were part of the process. I am all good with you being part of it because you have raced in the low desert and other parts of Baja. You aren't one of the inexperienced I referred to in my other post.
As with some other past tracking issues, it'd be nice for the entrants to be informed well in advance of new requirements etc to allow for proper prep time and full understanding. Looks like that's exactly what is happening.

As for Andy, I obviously wasn't giving him a hard time either. Andy has been racing down South longer and more consistently than most people and on competitive teams. I'm all for Andy putting in the hours to help us all out.:thumbsup:

As for, "the most seasoned expert on finding new lines", aw shucks, there are others out there way better at it than me. Some of the best are currently racing class 30 or 40.

BajaBoundMoto said:

Same here - message boards are horrible communication mediums.

Kudos to everyone for putting in the long hours and helping SCORE improve tracking. What pisses me off is that SCORE is once again failing to effectively communicate this stuff to racers. Relying on volunteers and message boards is incredibly unprofessional and ineffective if you ask me (contrary to popular belief, not every racer is on Thumpertalk, Race-Dezert or Baja.net).

Where is Sal? Does SCORE not have a voice? Why hasn't there been an official press release from SCORE openly discussing these new changes (the race is in three weeks by the way)? Why didn't SCORE ever address the 500 debacle?

I hope you guys are getting free race entries or something for all your time.